産業革命期における中小工業製品の輸出 : 大阪の硝子製品の輸出を中心に
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概要
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In this paper, I argue that the commercial and technical ingenuity of Japan's wholesalers(ton'ya) were crucial to the prosperity of its small-and medium-sized manufactures during its industrial revolution period. This point is generally overlooked by conventional low-wage theories. Towards the turn of the 19th century, China and India initiated and expanded small-and medium-sized manufactures using technology imported from Europe. Japan successfully advanced into those markets and overwhelmed not only native manufactures but also established Euroyean commercial powers. How then could Japan, having joined late in the competition, dominate small-and medium-sized manufacture markets in those countries? In attempting to answer this question, this paper examines Japan's small-and medium-sized manufacture's export products during this period, based upon case study results. I have found: (1) During this period, Japanese high-quality glass-ware was competing with German common glassware for the Chinese market. In this competition, Japanese wholesalers led Japan to domination of the market with following initiatives: they eagerly imported European technology for glass-making, surveyed the Chinese market(especially its pattern and design preferences), and established firms with skilled laborers and capital in China. In this way, Japna came to control approximately 40% of the Chinese import glassware market. (2) In India, glass-beads were the most important item in the glassware market. Japanese wholesalers' apt employment of capital and invention of a glass-bead manufacturing machine led them to dominate the Indian glass-ware market as well, which had been controlled by Austria, until that time.
- 社会経済史学会の論文
- 1990-03-30